Orientation device

ABSTRACT

A process and apparatus to orient small, very light articles which are irregularly shaped, e. g. dish-shaped or more specifically having the shape of a truncated cone. The dishshaped articles are caused to be supported in an upright manner in vertical slots in which the center of gravity of the article will always be displaced from the point of support, i. e. the thin peripheral edge at the bottom of the article, and then the articles are caused to be rolled down the vertical slots out onto a continuous deck whereupon the unsupported articles will all fall on their heavy or top side. The articles then can be transferred directly to the next operation or they can be turned over by conventional inverter means.

1 1 Oct. 23, 1973 United States Patent 11 1 Owen [ ORIENTATION DEVICE Primar Examiner-Richard E. Ae erter 1 Th G. F rt" 1d, c Y 8 [75] mentor omas Owen a] 16 mm Attorney-John H. Lewis, Jr. et al,

Remington Arms Company, Bridgeport, Conn.

[73] Assignee:

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2,337,394 12/1943 199/33 AC The arlieles can be transferred direetly to the 3,179,223 next operation or they can be turned over by conventional inverter means.

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 5 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures 1,229,908 12/1966 Germany........................l98/33 AA ORIENTATION DEVICE This invention relates to a process and apparatus for orienting small irregularly shaped, plastic elements. More specifically, the invention contemplates a simple but novel method of handling small, truncated coneshaped, plastic elements to be used as insulators in electric primers so that all the insulators are presented to an assembly plate with the same surface up.

The assembly process for the above-mentioned small electric primers requires that a plate (having a multiplicity of shallow cavities of a size to accept the plastic insulators) be filled with these insulators. To facilitate filling the plate, it is desirable that all insulators are presented to the plate with the same surface up. In addition to the problem caused by the necessity of handling large numbers of these insulators, there is the problem of the very small size (about 3/l6 inch diameter) and the very small weight of the plastic insulators (about 0.1 grain). The present invention solved these problems efficiently and economically. When properly operated, the device will correctly orient between 98 and 100 percent of the insulators.-

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a schematic side elevation of the orientation device.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the insulator.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the insulator.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the orientation device.

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of the guide block means and the horizontal gates or slots.

It is believed appropriate in describing the invention to begin with a detailed description of the article being oriented, i. e. insulator element 10. From FIGS. 2 and 3 it can be seen that insulator has a flat bottom surface 12 and a convex top surface 14 which is interrupted by an opening 16. Although the outside diameter of the insulator decreases from bottom to top, it can be seen that the partially closed end of the insulator adds weight to the left side of the insulator (See FIG. 3) and results in a center'of-gravity about where shown at cg. When positioned in an upright position, the insulator 10 will be supported on peripheral edge 18, which is the point of maximum diameter on the insulator.

In a preferred embodiment the orientation device comprises an upper deck and a lower deck 22, both of which are attached to an electrical or mechanical vibrator means (not shown) which, vibrates the orientation device. Upper deck 20 may be horizontal or at a slight angle to the horizontal, such as is shown in FIG. 1 where the upper deck is at an angle of about 10 to the horizontal. Gate posts 24 are placed at the discharge end of the upper deck 20 to form a gate as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Attached to the gate posts 24 and disposed at a small angle to the longitudinal axis of the orientation device are thin vanes 26 which define horizontal slots 28 therebetweemThe spacing between the gate posts is such as to allow only one insulator to pass freely so that single columns of insulators flow through the horizontal slots.

Positioned above the horizontal slots 28 on the upper deck is a vertical gate 30 which is a thin membrane of a vertical length calculated to vibrate at its natural frequency according to the frequency of vibration of the vibrating mechanism. The thin membrane gate 30 is spaced above the upper deck to allow single insulators to pass under unobstructed. Insulators stacked more than one high encounter the vibrating membrane 30 which stops them or flips the top insulators back nd allows the single bottom ones to pass. Those insulators which pass enter the horizontal slots 28 which, as mentioned above, permit only single columns of insulators to flow.

The thin vanes 26 attached to gate posts 24 are thin membranes which, because of their angular disposition to the longitudinal axis of the orienting device, effect vibration at the ends of the vanes in order to prevent or to break-up jams of insulators at the entrances to the horizontal slots.

The discharge ends of horizontal slots 28 have their center lines definitely displaced to one side of the knife edges 32 of the guide block 34 below. This permits the insulators 10 to quickly tip and be guided into vertical slots 36 of the guide block. As can be seen from FIG. 5, the guide block 34 is attached in some manner to lower deck 22 to move therewith. The guide block comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending bar members 38, each of which has parallel side walls 40 extending upwardly from the lower deck 22 for a height in excess of the maximum diameter of the insulators. Vertical slots 36 thus are defined by adjacent side walls 36a and 36b of adjacent bar members and a portion of the lower deck 22a. Converging upwardly from the upper ends of the side walls 36 are inclined sliding surfaces 42 which meet at sharp points to form knife edges 32 which extend longitudinally for the length of the bar members.

Although the lower deck 22 may be horizontally disposed, it is also shown inclined about 10 to the horizontal, which is preferable. The length of the guide block depends on how long it takes for the insulator to drop on a knife edge 32, tip over, slide on inclined surface 42, and drop in an upright position in vertical slot 36. It has been found that a length of about five diametersof the insulator was sufficient in this case. Obviously, such factors as vibration speed, weight of the article to be oriented, etc., may vary the length somewhat.

The length of the lower deck depends on the time it takes for the insulator to fall over onto its heavyside. Again, for the specific use mentioned above, it was found that a length about five diameters long was sufficient. Again, however, depending on the weight of the insulators, etc., the length required might be increased.

The lower deck 22 terminates in a downwardly curved surface 44, which together with curved surface 48, turns the insulators 10 around to slide down angularly disposed slot 46 so that the insulators are fed to the top surface of the plate to be filled with oriented insulators.

SUMMARY OF OPERATION Insulators 10, or objects to be oriented, are placed on the upper deck 20, beyond the vertical gate 30 (See FIG. 1). The whole orienting device is then vibrated by an electrical or mechanical vibrator. This starts the insulators moving down the upper deck. The vertical gate 30 allows single insulators to pass and flips other stacked insulators back. The insulators that pass under the vertical gate pass into the horizontal slots 28 in single columns. The insulators are upper deck by vibration over the discharge end of the upperdeck and on to the laterally displaced knife edges 32 of guide block 34 where the insulators tip and are slidingly guided on inclined surface 42 into vertical slots 36. Due to the incline of the bottoms of slots 36 and vibrating of the whole device, the insulators roll on their peripheral edges 18 down the slots and out onto the lower deck where, due to the center of gravity being displaced from the point of support, i. e. peripheral edge 18, they fall onto the lower deck 22 with the flat surface 12 uppermost. (See FIG. 2). The insulators then proceed, due to vibration, to the curved end 44 of the lower deck where curved surface 48 inverts the insulators so that they slide down slanting slot 46 to the assembly plate which is designed to accent the insulators. Obviously, if the manufacturing process required the insulators to be presented with the flat surface 12 uppermost, the latter inverting step can be omitted.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for orienting truncated cone-shaped articles having convex top surfaces and substantially flat bottom surfaces so that the articles are each presented to a subsequent operation with a preferred surface of the article facing upwardly, said apparatus comprising an upper inclined deck on to which randomly oriented articles are fed, a lower inclined deck, horizontal slot means mounted on said upper deck to channel only single columns of articles'to flow over the discharge end of said upper deck, guide block means mounted on said lower deck means under and adjacent the discharge end of the upper deck, said guide block means comprising at least one vertical slot means which is slightly wider than the height of the article and slightly deeper than the diameter of the article and at least one knifeedged bar means located at an elevation between the horizontal slot means and the vertical slot means, said knife-edged bar means and vertical slot means being laterally offset from the center line of said horizontal slot means, and means to vibrate said upper and lower decks so that the irregularly shaped articles are moved on either the top or bottom surfaces in a single line through the horizontal slot means to fall by gravity onto the knife-edged bar whereupon the articles are quickly tipped and guided into the vertical slot means in an unoriented upright position in which the top and bottom surfaces can face in either direction, after which the articles are rolled down and through the vertical slot means on their peripheral edges onto the lower deck where, due to the center of gravity being displaced from the point of support, they fall down onto the lower deck with the flat surface of the article uppermost.

2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 in which a vibrating vertical gate is positioned between the randomly oriented articles on the upper deck and the horizontal slot means, said vibrating vertical gate being spaced above the upper deck to allow single articles to pass under unobstructed and to stop stacked articles from proceeding through to the horizontal slot means.

3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 in which said horizontal slot means are defined by thin vanes attached to gate post means located near the discharge end of the upper deck, said gate post means being spaced to allow one article to pass freely, said vanes being disposed at a small angle to the horizontal axis of said apparatus to effect vibration at the ends of said vanes in order to prevent or to break up jams of articles at the entrances to the horizontal slots.

4. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said knifeedged bar means comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending bar members, the lower portion of which have parallel side walls which extend upwardly from the lower deck to a height greater than the diameter of the article, the upper ends of said parallel side walls converging upwardly to form a sharp, longitudinal knife edge, said vertical slot means being defined by adzg g C UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No 3,767,029 Dated October 23, 1973 Inventofls) .mmmag G. OWEN It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

' Col. '2,--Line 1, "nd" should read ---and-"-''; Col. 2, I'.-Line 64,

"The insulators are upper deck by vibration" should read 4 v as -The insulators are moved by vibra'tion'--. Col. 3, A Line 11,

"accent" should read --accept--. Inthe Claims (Claim 5) I Col. 4', Line 34, ."haF shou ld read -'--has--.

1 Signed and sealed this 1 8t-h day ofmJune 1974,

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M'.FLETCHERV,JR. Attesting Officer c. MARSHALL DANN Commissioner of Patents 

1. Apparatus for orienting truncated cone-shaped articles having convex top surfaces and substantially flat bottom surfaces so that the articles are each presented to a subsequent operation with a preferred surface of the article facing upwardly, said apparatus comprising an upper inclined deck on to which randomly oriented articles are fed, a lower inclined deck, horizontal slot means mounted on said upper deck to channel only single columns of articles to flow over the discharge end of said upper deck, guide block means mounted on said lower deck means under and adjacent the discharge end of the upper deck, said guide block means comprising at least one vertical slot means which is slightly wider than the height of the article and slightly deeper than the diameter of the article and at least one knife-edged bar means located at an elevation between the horizontal slot means and the vertical slot means, said knife-edged bar means and vertical slot means being laterally offset from the center line of said horizontal slot means, and means to vibrate said upper and lower decks so that the irregularly shaped articles are moved on either the top or bottom surfaces in a single line through the horizontal slot means to fall by gravity onto the knife-edged bar whereupon the articles are quickly tipped and guided into the vertical slot means in an unoriented upright position in which the top and bottom surfaces can face in either direction, after which the articles are rolled down and through the vertical slot means on their peripheral edges onto the lower deck where, due to the center of gravity being displaced from the point of support, they fall down onto the lower deck with the flat surface of the article uppermost.
 2. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 in which a vibrating vertical gate is positioned between the randomly oriented articles on the upper deck and the horizontal slot means, said vibrating vertical gate being spaced above the upper deck to allow single articles to pass under unobstructed and to stop stacked articles from proceeding through to the horizontal slot means.
 3. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 in which said horizontal slot means are defined by thin vanes attached to gate post means located near the discharge end of the upper deck, said gate post means being spaced to allow one article to pass freely, said vanes being disposed at a small angle to the horizontal axis of said apparatus to effect vibration at the ends of said vanes in order to prevent or to break up jams of articles at the entrances to the horizontal slots.
 4. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said knife-edged bar means comprises a plurality of longitudinally extending bar members, the lower portion of which have parallel side walls which extend upwardly from the lower deck to a height greater than the diameter of the article, the upper ends of said parallel side walls converging upwardly to form a sharp, longitudinal knife edge, said vertical slot means being defined by adjacent side walls of adjacent bar members and the lower deck.
 5. Apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein said each vertical slot means has a width which results in the centEr of gravity of the truncated cone-shaped articles being displaced from their peripheral edge support in such manner that the articles will fall on the heavier convex top surfaces each time regardless of the direction they are facing after rolling down the vertical slot means on their peripheral edge supports in an upright position. 